how to define a function with two parameters but also be able to run with only 1 parameters?

Question

so today i was wandering on codewars and found this kata: https://www.codewars.com/kata/51646de80fd67f442c000013/train/python the problem itself seems to be quite easy, but as you can see (in the link):

stripUrlParams('www.codewars.com?a=1&b=2&a=2')
stripUrlParams('www.codewars.com?a=1&b=2&a=2', ['b'])

the first line is the function with only 1 parameter but the second is a function with two parameters, is that even possible to create such function?

This question is a bit vague. What do you want to happen when the first parameter *isn't* provided? — Markus Meskanen, Apr 19 '17 at 11:08

foxyblue · Answer 1 · 2017-04-19T11:13:21.020

2

you can set a parameter to have a default value.

def example(a , b=3):
    return (a+b)

now b will be 3 unless stated otherwise:

print example(1)
#>>> 4
print example(1,b=4)
#>>> 5    or
print example(1, 4)
#>>> 5

edited Apr 19 '17 at 11:13

answered Apr 19 '17 at 11:06

foxyblue

thank you very much, i didnt know about it. – Trinh Cong Minh Apr 19 '17 at 11:15
Happy to show you! :) – foxyblue Apr 19 '17 at 11:17
in addtion to your solution, the way you write it can cause some unexpected output (i tried and... well it was unexpected :))) ) – Trinh Cong Minh Apr 19 '17 at 11:35
What did you expect and what result was unexpected? – foxyblue Apr 19 '17 at 11:38

1 Answers1